Senate President Therese Murray said of the fiscal 2013 House budget last weekend: “They have these very large amendments so I really don’t know everything that’s in there.” That makes […]
Strange doings on Beacon Hill
Posted inPolitics, The Download
When will it end in Lawrence?
Lawrence may be the longest-running soap opera in Massachusetts politics. The plot line is pretty depressing. The city’s schools have been taken over by the state. The former school superintendent […]
Posted inHealth Care
House files bill to curb health costs
The House unveiled an ambitious payment reform plan that would cap health care cost increases while giving consumers more information about their own health and control over how their money […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Opinion
Texas justice
Jerry Madden couldn’t help but acknowledge the oddity of the situation. A conservative Republican who serves as House chairman of the Texas Legislature’s Committee on Corrections, Madden was the featured […]
Posted inHealth Care, The Download
Death of a gladiator
As the tributes pour in for former New England Patriots linebacker Tiana Baul “Junior” Seau, the questions are mounting about what was going on inside the head of the outwardly […]
Posted inHealth Care
Steward responds to ‘red flags’ in RI
A consultant hired by the state of Rhode Island is raising “red flags” about the financial health of Steward Health Care System, but the Boston-based hospital chain says its business […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Mitt Romney’s faulty gaydar
Mitt Romney has gotten himself into another fine mess, this time with his inability to stand up to the anti-gay wing of the Republican Party. Romney got props for his […]
Posted inPolitics
Article examines Patrick’s representation of blacks
Gov. Deval Patrick has successfully represented black interests on Beacon Hill with legislation, executive orders, and the appointment of more than 200 African-Americans to positions in state government, according to […]
Posted inPolitics
DCR, club strike deal on rent
The Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation is ending a standoff with the Wollaston Yacht Club by renewing the organization’s permit at its existing $5,000-a-year level as long as the […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
Occupy turns left
Liberals have had lots of fun mocking Tea Party activists who decry federal spending and government overreach while fiercely defending their access to Social Security and Medicare. Today, the left […]
Posted inEconomy, Health Care, Opinion
Pairing social services with housing saves money, improves lives
It is a rare and precious thing in government when “doing good deeds” coincides with sound fiscal responsibility and actually saves money. Just in the last few weeks Beacon Hill […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
No bend in raging Rivers
Gene Rivers has always been the skunk at the garden party, the guy who interrupts the echo chamber of chatter among the politically correct to offer an impolitic pronouncement that […]
Posted inEconomy, The Back Story
The new local aid
The Community Preservation Act, once seen as an antidote to urban sprawl, is on the verge of becoming just another form of state aid to cities and towns. In its […]
Posted inPolitics
Stories on area hockey haters deliver cheap-shot hit on the city
The headlines all have a familiar ring to them. So familiar, in fact, that the New York Times incorporates that déjà vu feeling into the headline atop its story: “Hockey […]
Posted inThe Download, Uncategorized
Bonin book stirs the pot
A book on Robert Bonin’s ouster in the late 1970s as chief justice of the Massachusetts Superior Court is rekindling some old feuds. The book, The Vidal Lecture: Sex and […]
Posted inPolitics
A battle of the 1 percenters
A Senate campaign being fought over middle-class values is being waged by a pair of 1 percenters. US Sen. Scott Brown and Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren released tax return information […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Budgeting efficiency
For bloodless efficiency, you couldn’t beat the House deliberations over a $32 billion budget, which were wrapped up Wednesday night after just three days of debate, an antiseptic process that […]
Posted inHealth Care, Politics, The Download
The Holy Grail of health care savings
For years, those trying to control health care costs have placed private and public attempts on par with the little Dutch boy who put his finger in the dike to […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, The Download, Transportation
Death by a thousand transportation studies
When in doubt, study is the default strategy of Massachusetts lawmakers when it comes to dealing with prickly issues like transportation finance. Rep. Dan Winslow attempted to slaughter a sacred […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Get used to it: casino sparks are flying
The fight over casinos in Massachusetts is becoming less of a metaphor every day. Today’s Sun Chronicle reports on a dust-up between the Plainridge Racecourse, a harness racing track pursuing […]
Posted inPolitics, The Download
Bipartisan blues
The right-wing remaking of the Republican Party continues apace, and Indiana is the next battlefront in this internecine GOP war. That’s where veteran Republican US senator Richard Lugar faces a […]
Posted inEconomy
Group backs periodic reviews of tax breaks
A state commission assembled to review a $26 billion budget of tax breaks, deductions, and expenditures unanimously approved recommendations on Monday calling for periodic reviews to assess the effectiveness of […]
Posted inEconomy, The Back Story, Transportation
Massport and the T
The Massachusetts Port Authority is exploring ways to shoulder some of the MBTA’s financial burden (and increase mass transit use at Logan) , but the agency is moving slowly because […]
Posted inEconomy, The Download
The income (inequality) wars
We began this week talking about the Buffett Rule, an attempt to make millionaires pay a tax rate of at least 30 percent. President Obama and Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth […]